Shutter mechanism



April 24, 1951 G. w. WHITE 2,550,103

SHUTTER MECHANISM Filed Nov. 2, 1946 GEORGE W/// 7-5 Patented Apr. 24, 1951 2,550,103 se ier MECHANISM George W. White, West Hartford, Conn assignor to Veeder-Root Incorporated, Hartford, Conn a. corporation of Connecticut l 1 Application o e r 2, 1946, Serial No. 707,494

The present invention relates generally to register or counter mechanisms, and more par ticularly to an improved shutter arrangement for such mechanisms.

To prevent fraudulent operation of countero-r register mechanisms, it frequently is desirable to provide means for automatically concealing the indicating members upon the initiation of 'a resetting operation, which means is operative for continuing such concealment until the resetting operation has been carried through to completion, whereupon the indicating members are again exposed to View automatically. In some instances, such as in the fluid dispensing art, the regulations of bureaus of weights and measures make such a shutter arrangement mandatory in counter or register mechanisms of the type in which the indicating members are reset to zero in the same direction as they are driven during counting or registering.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a shutter mechanism which will accomplish the desired functions referred to above, which is of greatly simplified design thereby requiring a minimum of parts, which parts are easily manufactured and readily assembled while, at the same time, the device'is not readily susceptible to malfunctioning or breakage during 'normal usage and will not interfere with the operation ordes'ign of the register or counter mechanism itself.

Other objects will be in part obvious and in part pointed out more in detail hereinafter.

The invention accordingly consists in the featu'res of construction, combination of elements and arrangement of parts which will be exemplihad in the construction hereafter set forth "and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the appended claims.

In the drawing- Figure 1' is a' fragmentary front view of a register or counter mechanism embodying the present invention and with its cover removed;

Fig. 2 is a side view, partially in cross section, of the mechanism with the cover in place;

Fig, 3 is a fragmentary cross sectional view of thedevice taken along the line 3- 3 of Fig. l with the cover in place on the device and with the. shutter mechanism in its position" during re ste in or ur-ti is a view similar to that of Figs 3 with the shutter mechanism in concealing position during a resetting operation; and

5 is, a perspective View rof a mutilated pinionjutiliz ed, in the device.

.5 Class; (01. 235-4) Referring to the drawing and particularly to Figs. 1 and 2, there is shown a conventional counter or register mechanism having a plurality of number wheel units lfl rotatably supported on a reset shaft H which, in turn,'is rotatably journaled in the side plates I2 of the frame 13. The number wheel units ID are provided with the usual indicia adapted to be viewed through windows M in the cover l5.

In the embodiment shown in the drawing, the first of the wheel units I0 is adapted-to be driven by an associated apparatus, such as a meter (not shown) through a gear train-comprising gears l6 and H. The remaining wheel units H) are driven by conventional transfer means consisting of driven gearsIS; driving units l9, and transfer pinions 2B rotatably mounted on a transfer pinion shaftZ! which also is supported by the side plates 12. 1 r

'The resetting shaft i l is provided with a longitudinal groove 22 which is adapted to engage with pawis (not shown in the'd'ra'wingi associated with each of the wheel units- ID in such manner that the wheel units may turn in a registeringor counting direction independently of the reset shaft II, but, when the reset shaft II is turned in the same direction, the wheel units 10 are picked up by the reset shaft to align the indic'ia thereon and reset the wheel units'to zero."

' In accordance with the invention, there is provided a shutter 23 which is generally U-shaped and disposed across the number wheel units It), the arms 24 and 25 of the shutter being formed with openings 26 for positioning the shutter rotatably on the reset shaft H. The shutter 23 is biased into the osition shown in Fig 4, in which position the shutter extends between the windows [4 and the wheel units II) by asp ring 21 extending between the arm 24 and the adjacent side plate [2. The extent ofth'e' pivoting of theshutter 23 is limited by a pink? on'the side plate l2 which engages the arm 24 'sothat' the shutter 23 is accurately positioned to conceal the wheel unitslfi.

Although the shutter mechanism normally is in a concealing position, means is provided for moving the shutterout of concealing position when the reset shaft is turned. a distance which' is suflicient to return the number wheel units to zero. This means includes alocking disk 2.9 fixed to the reset shaft H so as to turn therewith. The locking disk29 has a struck-up portion 39 which is provided with four teeth 3'! adjacent the periphery of the locking disk. The arm25 which extends belowthe resetshaft H is formed with two teeth 32 which are of the same size asg-the teeth 3| and which also are adjacent the periphery of the locking disk 29. The locking disk 29, the four teeth 3| and the two teeth 32 of the arm are all interconnected with a mutilated pinion 33 rotatably mounted on the transfer pinion shaft 2 I. Referring particularly to Fig. 5, it will be observed that the pinion 33 comprises eight teeth of varying width. Four of said teeth 34 positioned as opposite pairs are formed for the full width of the pinion. Two of said teeth are of an intermediate width and the remaining two teeth 36 are of short width. The disk 3'! is merely a reinforcing disk for reinforcing the teeth 35, 35 and 36.

By way of clarifying the function of the mutilated pinion 33, the pinion may be thought of as thee separate gears, the first adjacent the disk 3i having eight teeth, the second or middle one having six teeth, and the third (farthest from the dish 3'!) having four teeth. The four teeth iii of struck-up portion 39 of the locking disk 29 are adapted to cooperate with the first of said imaginary gears, i. e., with all of the teeth 34, 35 and 3% of the mutilated pinion. The locking disk itself cooperates with the second imaginary gear, i. e., with the teeth of intermediate length 35, and one pair of the teeth of full length 3 2. The teeth 32 of the arm 25 cooperate with the third imaginary gear, i. e., with the full size teeth 3 of the mutilated pinion.

The operation of the device is as follows: Assuming the device to be in condition for registering or counting, as shown in Fig. 3 of the drawing, the lower extremity of the arm 25 of the shutter 23 has been moved forwardly and retained in this position by engagement of the full length teeth 3 of the mutilated pinion 33 with the teeth 32 so that the number wheel units 5% are exposed to view. When the reset shaft l i is turned in a resetting direction (clockwise as viewed in the drawing), the teeth 3i of the struck-up portion 39 of the locking disk 29, by engagement with four teeth of the pinion 33, cause the mutilated pinion 33 to turn thereby disengaging the teeth and 32 and releasing the arm 25 whereupon the shutter 23 is moved into concealing position by the spring 2?, as shown in Fig. 4. It is a particular advantage of the device of the present invention that only a slight amount of turning of the reset shaft is sufiicient to initiate this shutter action, inasmuch as the shuter moves to full concealing position immediately as soon as full length tooth 34 of the mutilated pinion 33 holding the arm 25 clears the teeth 32. This quick release action is important for preventing fraudulent advancement of the number wheel units by limited movements of the reset shaft. Continued turning of the reset shaft causes the teeth 3!, which may be regarded as an interrupted gear, to become disengaged from the pinion 33 and thereafter further turning of the pinion 33 is prevented by the extension of the locking disk 29 between one of the teeth of intermediate length and one of the teeth 33 of full length until the resetting shaft H has been turned suniciently to again engage the teeth 3! with the pinion 33. When this position has been reached, the locking disk 29, by virtue of the struck-up portion 33, no longer prevents turning of the pinion 33, and the teeth 3| of the struck-up portion 33 of the locking disk 29 turn the pinion 33 so that the second pair of full length teeth 34 drive the lower extremity of the arm 25 forwardly of the device, thereby moving the shutter 23 away from the windows 14 to expose the wheel units [6 to view, this operation being completed 4 simultaneously with the movement of the wheel units 13 into zero position. The device is then in condition to repeat the operation described.

It thus will be seen that an effective device for the purposes stated has been provided which is of simple construction and which can be readily manufactured and assembled.

As many changes could be made in the above construction and many apparently widely different embodiments of this invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a register mechanism comprising a frame, a rotatable reset shaft mounted on the frame, and a plurality of counter wheel units rotatably mounted on the shaft and adapted to be driven during registering independently of the shaft but to be engaged by the shaft and reset to zero when the shaft is turned, a shutter mechanism comprising a shutter having an arm pivotally mounted on the frame and adapted to be pivoted into and out of concealing position with respect to said counter wheel units, a spring biasing said shutter into concealing position, a rotatably mounted mutilated pinion having at least one series of teeth consisting of one tooth of full width, one tooth of intermediate width, one tooth of narrow width and one tooth of full width in sequence, an extension on the shutter arm having teeth adapted to be engaged by said teeth of full width for pivoting the shutter and retaining it in nonconcealing position, a driving member fixed to the reset shaft and adapted to rotate therewith having four teeth adapted to engage said series of teeth to rotate the pinion only during the completion and initiating of resetting as the reset shaft is being turned to effect a reset operation, and a locking disk rotated with said driving member extending between said tooth of intermediate width and the second tooth of full width and provided with a gap for clearing said teeth when the driving member engages the pinion.

2. In a register mechanism comprising a frame, a rotatable reset shaft mounted on the frame, and indicating members rotatably mounted on the shaft and adapted to be reset to zero by turning of the shaft to a predetermined reset position, a shutter mounted for pivoting movement into and out of concealing position with respect to said indicating members, means biasing the shutter into concealing position, driving means including an interrupted gear for interconnecting the shutter and the reset shaft during completion of a resetting operation and while the shaft is in reset position to pivot the shutter to non-concealing position and to retain it in non-concealing position upon completion of a resetting operation, said driving means being abruptly disconnected by turning of the reset shaft to initiate a subsequent resetting operation to permit the shutter to return to concealing position, and locking means operated by the reset shaft for locking the shutter in concealing position except during operation of said driving means.

3. In a register mechanism comprising a frame, a rotatable reset shaft mounted on the frame, and indicating members rotatably mounted on the shaft and adapted to be reset to zero thereby, a shutter mounted for pivoting movement into and out of concealing position with respect to said indicating members, means biasing the shutter into concealing position, a rotatable member, means on the rotatable member engaging the shutter to hold the shutter in non-concealing position at one rotated position of the rotatable member, to drive the shutter from concealing to non-concealing position when the rotatable member is rotated from said one to a second rotated position and to hold the shutter in nonconcealing position while the rotatable member is in said second rotated position, locking means responsive to rotated position of the reset shaft for locking the rotatable member in said one position, and driving means including an interrupted gear between the reset shaft and rotatable member for rotating the rotatable member from the said one to the said second rotated position when the reset shaft is turned to complete a resetting operation, said locking means being unlocked during completion and initiating of resetting as the reset shaft is turned to effect a reset operation.

4. In a register mechanism comprising a frame, a rotatable reset shaft mounted on the frame, and indicating members rotatably mounted on the shaft and adapted to be reset to zero by rotation of the shaft, a shutter mounted for pivoting movement into and out of concealing position with respect to said indicating members, means biasing the shutter into concealing position, a rotatably mounted pinion, means on the shutter and on the pinion for locking the shutter in concealing position at one rotated position of the pinion, for driving the shutter from concealing to non-concealing position while the pinion is rotated from said one to a second rotated position and for locking the shutter in non-concealing position while the pinion remains in said second rotated position, driving means including an interrupted gear operated by the reset shaft for rotating the pinion from said first to said second rotated position during the completion of a resetting operation, for retaining the pinion in said second rotated position until initiation of a subsequent resetting operation and for rotating the pinion from said second to said first rotated position during initiation of a subsequent resetting operation, and locking means operated by the reset shaft for locking the pinion against rotation except during engagement of said driving means.

5. In a register mechanism comprising a frame, a rotatable reset shaft mounted on the frame, and indicating members rotatably mounted on the shaft and adapted to be reset to zero by rotation of the shaft, a shutter mounted for pivoting movement into and out of concealing position with respect to said indicating members, means biasing the shutter into concealing position, a rotatable mutilated pinion, an interrupted gear on the reset shaft and rotatable therewith for meshing with the pinion to rotate the pinion from a first rotated position to a second rotated position during completion of a resetting operation, and for retaining the pinion in the second rotated position until initiation of a subsequent resetting operation, locking means including a notched disk for locking the pinion in said first rotated position except during meshing of the interrupted gear with the pinion, and means connected to the shutter for engagement by the mutilated pinion to hold the shutter in concealing position while the pinion is in the said first rotated position, to drive the shutter from concealing to non-concealing position while the pinion is rotated from said first to said second rotated. position and for locking the shutter in non-concealing position while the pinion is in said second rotated position.

GEORGE W. WHITE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,439,097 Graham Dec. 19, 1922 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 331,443 Great Britain July 8, 1930 

